An attempt by a rich family in Bunia to drive ethnic Lendu from their land sparked the Ituri region’s bloody ethnic conflict, according to testimony on Wednesday. Continuing his testimony from the previous day, a former political leader in Ituri told the Lubanga trial that the Savo family, ethnic Hema who were financial backers of…
Questions were raised this week about Thomas Lubanga’s control over the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) militia, following testimony that as the group’s president, his role was largely political, not military. Lubanga is on trial at the International Criminal Court on charges of conscripting and using children to fight in the Ituri region of the…
Thomas Lubanga, the accused leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), was portrayed in video clips on Friday as seeking peace between ethnic groups in the Ituri region. “We must work together,” Lubanga stated in one video. “We must not tolerate that people continue to massacre other people on our territory of Ituri.” Although…
Prosecutors in the trial of accused militia leader Thomas Lubanga turned to a historian this week to explain the origins of the ethnic conflicts that have plagued the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Author and historian Gerard Prunier provided the court with an overview of the ethnic tensions that erupted…
The violence in the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo went beyond economics and ethnicity, historian Gerard Prunier told the court on Friday in the continuing trial of accused militia leader Thomas Lubanga. Responding to a question from Judge Elizabeth Odio Benito, Prunier said the conflict began as an economic one, but quickly…
Defense attorneys for Thomas Lubanga on Thursday questioned historian Gerard Prunier about the history of the Hema-Lendu conflict and its possible bearing on the actions of Lubanga and his Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC). Prunier, who holds a Ph.D. in African Studies from the University of Paris, published From Genocide to Continental War: The Congolese…
Two former child soldiers in Thomas Lubanga’s militia this week told the International Criminal Court about the first time they killed in battle and how they are haunted by the memories. Testifying in Swahili, both said fear of being shot by their commanders stopped them from fleeing the gruesome conditions of their training and at…
A female former child soldier testifying at the trial of Thomas Lubanga on Thursday said that recruits in Lubanga’s militia were subjected to brutal training and indoctrination that included having their heads shaved with broken glass. The unnamed witness, whose voice and face were digitally distorted to shield her identity, said those who disobeyed orders…
A witness in the trial of Thomas Lubanga admitted on Wednesday to contradictions between his testimony in court and his earlier statements to court prosecutors. During cross-examination by defense counsel Marc Desalliers, the witness, referred to in court by the pseudonym Patrick, agreed that his statements contained conflicting details about the battles he fought, his…
A former child soldier on Tuesday recounted how he shot people during battles as one of Thomas Lubanga’s militia fighters, telling the court he had to shoot or be shot. The former soldier said he became dizzy the first time he killed an enemy fighter, and is haunted by memories of his time as a…
Thomas Lubanga on trial at the International Criminal Court. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is the first person to be tried by the International Criminal Court. A former rebel leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lubanga is accused of conscripting, enlisting, and using child soldiers. More
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